What happens when you’re brave mad enough to travel with 2 kids under 2…… on a 24-hour flight?

An absolutely epic flight.

Prancing around the airport, happy as a lark. For now…

So it was 3 adults (myself and my parents) with 2 kids, which you’d think would be OK. That’s sort of true, but it made me realise it’s about the bare minimum you need to get all the logistics sorted out when travelling with 2 very young children. Let’s just say we learned a LOT in terms of organization as well as stress management! Also made me realise how critical it is to have parents that are willing to sacrifice their time, effort and sanity to help you out.. all so I could live the dream of going to USA again and seeing my friends, all entirely at their monetary expense. So grateful!!

Waiting for takeoff

To be fair, Carter was an absolute dream. That said, it was expected since he’s so young. I personally think that any baby under 6 months old is guaranteed to be a good traveller – since they do not much at all 😉 And that’s exactly what Carter did – he spent the majority of the time snuggled up in the bassinet, sleeping and rousing only to nurse.

EASY!

Carter = dream flight baby

Hunter, on the other hand, was nothing short of a basket case. Normally one helluva excellent sleeper since birth, he had extreme difficulty sleeping on the plane. We’ve since realised he MUST have his own cot and own room in order to sleep.. and be alone. All of which are not possible on the flight, and so he basically went off his rocker with sleep deprivation over the 24 hours.

There were times when he was manic with laughter, jumping all around, being Mr Sociable with anyone and everyone that would give him attention. And there were also times when he was so exhausted he’d go into cranksville and make our lives a misery. Dad in particular went through hell and back, as I was handling Carter, so he was full-time with Hunter who frequently clung onto him and refused to let go for hours on end. There was much struggling, fussing, crying and wailing. It was INSANE.

Hunter = manic flight baby

There WERE rare moments of sleep-time where both kids knocked out.. but there weren’t many and I was way too stressed and hyped up from it that I couldn’t fall asleep myself!

THIS IS BETTER THAN WINNING THE LOTTERY

Basically the only way Hunter would sleep

Needless to say, we were all certifiedzombies when we got off the flight. Thankfully, Dad suspected this when we booked our trip, so he made sure we stayed overnight in a hotel after the flight, before the l-o-n-g drive the next day to Princeton.

The kids did very well in the car, and basically slept the whole way. Whew! The scenery was simply gorgeous.. so nice seeing autumn in the USA. Beautiful foliage!

Gorgeous views

The scenery.. just wow

Fresh air, sun on my face, wind in my hair… this is the life.

We were staying with my aunt, who has this gigantic house in a small town. IT’S GORGEOUS. The house was so large that we all had a lot of space, and Hunter had his own large bedroom too. In fact, he loved it so much he was declaring it as “home” shortly afterwards!

View from my aunt’s kitchen. The lake is her backyard!

My snuggly bear

A proper, real fireplace!!!

Hunter had a total blast running around outside. The air was cold, but it didn’t seem to bug him one bit. He was happy running around, stomping through the leaves, discovering acorns and big rocks, etc etc… It was wonderful seeing him have so much fun and discover all these new sights and sounds!

Morning walk

Enjoying the fresh air

*stomp stomp stomp*

Hunter and the great outdoors

One of our most memorable meals was a wonderful home cooked lobster dinner by my aunt. Lobster is relatively cheap there compared to Singapore, so we got to indulge! Big fat meaty lobster… dipped in hot melted butter *FAINT*. I could get used to this.

Mr Lobster, mere moments before he got devoured

Clams that were really freaky looking, but tasted awesome!

I LOVE cornbread

We spent a week in the area.. will post about the sights and sounds next!

Oh Bev, have I told you how much I enjoy your posts??? Love them! And LOVE that photo of Hunter as a manic baby, so funny!!! Agree that its much easier to travel with baby at less than 6 months. Our 12-hr flight to SG when Sammy was 5 months old was MUCH easier than our recent 4.5-hr flight to Spain when he’s 13 months!

Travelling with kids is a nightmare. I agree about the help – There were two of us with Georgie on our trip to Europe and that was bad enough. She wasn’t walking then but now she is I am guessing non stop trips around the plane would be commonplace for entertainment.

It’s a hard trip to do in one go – kudos to you for even trying. Hopefully the end result was worth the pain!

I guess that’s the downside to having a kid that can sleep well and uses his own bed! Hope Luke does better though and if you can, try doing day flights.. I’ve found that night flights are awful if they can’t sleep (which went against my original idea that Hunter would knock out and sleep the entire time and I’d have lots of free time!)

It was a “now or never” thing for me.. cos I don’t think I’d attempt another long haul flight with 2 kids again, at least not until they’re way way way older! Flying with young kids is just awful in general…, I just dread it :X

You are very blessed Beverly your parents sound so wonderful and supportive, sure you hear this all the time but your boys are so gorgeous. We were in Canada visiting hubbys family towards the end of summer so unfortunately missed the autumn leaves, looking at your pics wow it is so beautiful. We always eat lobster whenever we are in Canada during lobster season, this year we ate it several times and on one occasion we bought 8 half kilo lobsters for AUD $45.00!! Your aunts house with the views is truly spectacular what a wonderful way to relax.

First of all, your “Snuggly bear” is so so adorable!
Thanks for sharing this! Making me think and rethink what is the best age for my little Daniel to travel. Guess I will have to wait another few years. He’s 10 months old now.

I think if you want to travel, RIGHT NOW is still ok! I reckon it’s still do-able when they’re not yet walking/running.. as at least you can contain them. After that, I think after 3 yrs old is when they’re mature enough to handle long flights.